In the processing of edible poultry, such as chickens and turkeys, it is desirable to separate the meat from the skeletal structure of the poultry carcass so that the meat can be sold separately, without the bone being contained within the meat. The all-meat product can be attractively packaged and sold in relatively small portions which are easy to prepare and eat, without requiring the consumer to separate the meat from the bone.
In the past, the process of filleting poultry products, such as thighs and breasts, has been achieved by hand, with workers manually stripping the meat from the bone. More recently automated equipment has become available which functions to separate the meat from the bone of poultry thighs.
Although automated equipment has been developed which successfully functions to debone poultry thighs, the skeletal structure of the breast and related parts of the poultry carcass are of more complex configuration, and it is more difficult to separate the meat and bone from this portion of the carcass. More recently, automated equipment has been developed which operates to remove the meat from the breast portion of the poultry carcass. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,386 discloses a system by which previously eviscerated poultry carcasses are automatically filleted, by mounting poultry carcasses with wings and legs removed on a series of mandrels or carcass carriers and moving the carcasses on the carriers along the work path where a series of implements engage and remove the meat from the skeletal structure of the carcass. Equipment of this type tends to separate the meat from the skeletal structure of the carcass while leaving the breast meat in one portion. In the past, it has been necessary to split the breast by hand after removing it from the poultry carcass. While in some situations it may be desirable to allow the breast meat to remain in one portion, in many other situations it is desirable to sever the breast meat into equal parts.
Accordingly, it is seen that a need remains for a poultry breast filleting system which can remove the breast meat from the poultry carcass in one piece or in two pieces as desired. It is to the provision of such a poultry breast filleting system that the present invention is primarily directed.